The provision and maintenance of reliable bulk non-volatile memory storage devices is increasingly likely to be made the responsibility of an organization which charges other people or organizations for the shared use of the storage devices. The computing platforms of those other organizations are linked to the storage devices by way of some network. One reason for such a commercial arrangement is that such bulk memory devices need to be very reliably operated and maintained, and the sharing of the facility by different organizations has advantages. For example, the physical security of the storage devices can be more easily afforded when the cost is shared by many users. Another reason is that storage needs cannot always be accurately predicted.
The invention is applicable to network storage devices in various environments such as NAS (network attached storage) and SAN (storage area network) environments.
The term ‘storage box’ is used herein to denote any bulk non-volatile memory storage device that is capable of being used as a network storage device. The invention is concerned with providing storage security features for such a storage box.
The wide availability of a storage box to different users gives rise to a need for security features. Most storage security features have in the past been provided in a local area network (LAN) by application software at a server or personal computer (PC) level but such solutions are not feasible in a NAS environment for example, since the software may be open to attack through the network connected to the server. For example, it is envisaged that tape drive software might be modified in an unauthorized manner so that it ‘bounces’ received sensitive material to other parts of the network for fraudulent purposes.
Typically the data stored in the storage box relate to financial transactions and bank account numbers, and it is desirable that such data should only be readable by the person or organization that has provided the data to the storage box, or with their permission.